Music is a mystery for people who play it, write it, listen to it, and write about it. The only thing I can really do when I try to say something about music is assume.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Happy 90th Birthday, Ray Still

Oboists from all over the world will be flocking to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois this coming week for Ray Still's 90th Birthday Celebration. WFMT FM (98.7 in Chicago) will begin their part of the celebration tomorrow (March 8) by devoting a lot of air time to Still's orchestral, chamber and solo recordings. They will end the week with a two-hour audio documentary about his musical life on March 12, his actual 90th birthday.

Those of us who live outside of the 98.7 listening area can listen online. Still will be co-hosting a program from 10-12, and the documentary will be on from 1:00 to 3:00 American Midwestern time.

Ray Still is a marvelous musician and a wonderful human being who enjoyed a fantastic career in music. I hope that people far and wide will listen in and enjoy this celebration.

In addition to the radio program, Ray Still will be giving a free masterclass on the 11th of March at Roosevelt University from 2:00-4:30, and another in Evanston on the 15th (the Ides of March) which you can get information about here. Admission to the concert held in his honor that evening is also free.

I am active as a composer, a violist, a violinist, a recorder player, and as a teacher. I began my professional musical life as a flutist, and spent a lot of quality time as a baroque flutist, but both of those instruments spend their time tucked away in a drawer, while my violin, viola, and my viola d'amore are often tucked under my chin.